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Watch the Rolls-Royce Cullinan tackle the sand dunes outside Dubai

The Rolls-Royce Cullinan is coming soon. The British automaker has made copious effort trying to keep the coming Cullinan from being considered just a crossover or SUV. The carmaker calls it an All-Terrain High-Sided Bodied Vehicle, and a feature as banal as a tailgate has been billed as a "luxuriously comfortable viewing platform." Yet when Rolls-Royce took a prototype Cullinan for testing in the Dubai dunes, they recorded their Phantom-based SUV ripping up the sand in ways you'd expect from a 30-year-old Chevrolet Blazer. As the Nurburgring became to cars, the dunes outside of Dubai have turned into a testing venue as useful as they are photogenic. Rolls-Royce's trip there follows a list of other luxury SUV makers, including Range Rover, Bentley, and most recently, Lamborghini. What caught our eye in this video is that outside of century-old, black-and-white photos of Charles Stuart Rolls hammering one of his early cars in contests like the 1906 Tourist Trophy, this is the first time we've ever seen Rolls-Royce do anything unabashedly racy off-road. It's as if they plucked Florida Man from the Soggy Bottom Mud Park, gave him the keys to a Cullinan and the challenge, "A case of Pabst says you can't break it." Fast forward to the 1:08 mark to get into the action. Obviously, we don't expect any Cullinan driver — save those Dubai hoons — to thrash a Cullinan like so. But it's nice to know the All-Terrain High-Sided Bodied Vehicle can do it. Related Video: News Source: Rolls-Royce [via YouTube] via Autoevolution Rolls-Royce SUV Future Vehicles Luxury Videos dubai rolls-royce cullinan

Rolls-Royce names new chief executive for North America

Rolls-Royce has announced a changing of the guard in its North American office. Stepping out of his role as North American regional president is Eric Shepherd (pictured). In his place, the uber-luxe British automaker is bringing in Pedro Mota, who comes by way of Porsche Cars North America, where he served as the west coast regional vice president. Mota holds an MBA from European business school INSEAD, and a Master's in electrical engineering from Lisbon Technical University. He'll join Rolls-Royce with almost immediate effect on October 1 to learn the ropes before taking over on January 1, 2016 - the day after Shepherd vacates the office. The company was rather unspecific in disclosing what Shepherd will be doing next, saying only that he'll be staying "within the Rolls-Royce family" in a "new entrepreneurial role in the super-luxury automotive retail sector." The shift in leadership in the North American office at Rolls-Royce comes as the automaker prepares to role out new models. It's now in the process of adding the new Dawn convertible to the Ghost/Wraith family. It's also preparing to launch its first SUV, known internally as project Cullinan, into a burgeoning new market segment for ultra-luxurious crossovers. It's an area with which Mota, having helped move so many Cayennes and helped introduce the new Macan through West Coast dealers, ought to be intimately familiar. Related Video: LEADERSHIP TRANSITION AT ROLLS-ROYCE MOTOR CARS NORTH AMERICA Rolls-Royce Motor Cars has announced that President (North America), Eric Shepherd, has decided to move to a new entrepreneurial role in the super-luxury automotive retail sector within the Rolls-Royce family. Chief Executive, Torsten Mueller-Oetvoes, said, "Eric's move is a big loss to our successful business at Rolls-Royce North America but we are highly supportive of talented managers like Eric pursuing personal business opportunities, particularly when it means they stay within the Rolls-Royce community. Eric's dynamic leadership of our North American operation has been highly effective. He has established a strong team and cohesive network which has led to a substantial strengthening of our business in the region." Shepherd will continue in office as President of Rolls-Royce NA until 31 December 2015. He will be succeeded by Pedro Mota who will join Rolls-Royce NA from Porsche Cars NA where he served as Vice President, Area West.

BMW profit of $2.7B is down as automaker invests to keep luxury lead

Despite selling 6.6-percent more vehicles - a record by volume - and posting higher revenues in the second quarter of 2013, BMW Group's profit of 2.07 million euros ($2.75 billion) is down 8.8 percent from last year. Investments in new technology (e.g. the new i3) and personnel, in addition to a competitive market, are to blame, BMW states. But the automaker remains committed to its fiscal targets for 2013, which, Chairman of the Board of Management of BMW AG, Norbert Reithofer, says will be "on a similar scale to 2012."
The BMW brand's sales performance in the first half of the year, which increased by 7.7 percent to 804,258 vehicles delivered, was good enough for it to maintain its lead in the luxury market, narrowly beating Audi, which delivered 780,510 vehicles, Automotive News reports. Mercedes-Benz delivered 694,433 vehicles to cement third place.